1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a job designation processing system using a job designation sheet to recognize job designated contents written on the job designated sheet and execute specified matters according to the contents and more particularly to a job designation/processing system to judge whether an edition number written on the job designation sheet is the latest one by a management unit and execute specified processing.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method for automatically executing a job using a job designation sheet that is so designed to designate job process by checking marks is so far used in various fields.
In particular, for a job to enter an image on a paper document and process the entered image, a job designation sheet and such a paper document as a catalog, an object of that process or a document to be copied are treated in one set. A job designation/processing system using a job designation sheet capable of inputting it to a reader such as a scanner is very convenient and various proposals have been made so far by many enterprises.
Even users who have no knowledge of details of jobs will become capable of executing jobs.
Now, under this using environment, let""s consider a case wherein an editor who edited a job designation sheet to change a format reflected on that job designation sheet.
As each user has a hard copy of a job designation sheet, there is always the possibility for using an unedited job designation sheet after it was edited.
If an unedited job designation sheet was used, a job is processed according to the contents described on the unedited job designation sheet and thus, a job might become confused.
For this reason, when data described on an unedited job designation sheet are read and input by a reader, it is a general practice to regard the input as an erroneous input and prevent the input of an unedited job designation sheet.
The Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 9-305684 discloses a system which not only reports to the job designation sheet users that the job designation sheets cannot be used but also reduces a time of user needed for acquiring the latest edition of the job designation sheets (a time for distribution when viewed from the standpoint of a job designation sheet editor).
In this Japanese Patent Disclosure Kokai) No. 9-305684, a technology is disclosed to acquire the latest edition of the job designation sheet after edited without bothering sheet editors by judging new or old of a job designation sheet when it is used and printing it immediately.
As described above, when an job designation sheet before edited was used, it was regarded as an error and its input was rejected so far.
However, if a job designation sheet that is desired by user to use in an old edition before the edition and rejected to use, three steps; xe2x80x9cAcquisition of New Editionxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cRe-designationxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cRe-readingxe2x80x9d become newly necessary for user.
Regarding xe2x80x9cAcquisition of New Editionxe2x80x9d, a means to acquire the latest edition according to a print time only was disclosed in the Japanese Patent Disclosure (Kokai) No. 9-305684. However, the process by three steps: xe2x80x9cPrinting of New Editionxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cRe-designationxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cRe-inputxe2x80x9d is still required.
When considering the editing contents of individual sheet, some cases are observed, wherein the input of an old job designation sheet before edited is not necessarily regarded as an error.
For instance, when the sheet layout was changed to the layout easy to see or jobs to be processed are increased.
In the former case, there is entirely no problem to use a sheet before edited and in the latter case, a sheet before edited is sufficient for jobs prior to increasing the number of jobs.
Further, even when use of sheets before edited is not completely proper, it is possible to promote its facility when operated according to the contents designated on a job designation sheet before edited.
This is because when viewed from the user""s viewpoint, there is a demand to reduce a time bounded to the job designation unit.
On the other hand, from the viewpoint of the job designation unit, when considering a case to install this system to a common compound equipment (scanner, printer, copying machine and facsimile), the rate of operation of this type of compound equipment is relatively higher than an equipment of single function and therefore, there is a demand for reducing an occupation factor of the unit.
Therefore, when the effect of the edit is sufficiently less, jobs are once processed according to the insufficient process contents of a job designation sheet before edited. Later, a user corrects the contents of processing slightly and inputs it through a terminal equipment such a personal computer (PC) on a network so that the processing of a sheet can be completed. Provision of various means is also desired to process jobs according to the contents of a job designation sheet by inputting data described on a sheet before edited without regarding them erroneous data.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a job processing system to process jobs according to contents of a job designation sheet. When, for instance, the effect of edit is sufficiently less, jobs are once processed according to the insufficient processing contents of a job designation sheet before edited. Later, a user corrects the processing contents slightly and input through a terminal equipment such as a PC on a network so that the job processing described on the sheet can be completed. Depending on the degree of the contents of edit, data described on a sheet before edited is input without regarding it as erroneous data.
According to the present invention, a job processing system using a job designation sheet is provided. This system comprises a printer configured to prepare job designation sheets including the description of specified job designation contents and prior Sheet Version Number showing the version of the job designation sheet on each job designation sheet when editing the sheet; a manager configured to manage the version of each job designation sheet according to Version Number printed on the job designation sheet; a reader configured to read the job designation sheet that has the job designation contents described and the sheet Version Number printed; a recognizer configured to recognize the described contents and Version Number of the job designation sheet read by the reader; a judging unit configured to judge whether the sheet Version Number recognized by the recognizer is the latest one according to the version of the job designation sheet managed by the manager; a first processor configured to process jobs according to the contents described on the job designation sheet recognized by the recognizer when the version of the sheet is judged as the latest version; and a second processor configured to process jobs according to the described contents of the job designation sheet recognized by the recognizer when a difference between the contents designated by the job designation sheet of the latest version and that designated by the job designation sheet is small even when the judging result of the judging unit is not the latest version.